Thursday, May 17, 2007

"You call this work?"...pt.1

Occasionally in the wine biz, a person gets invited to what they call trade tastings, where a wholesaler will lay out a bunch of their wines for retail and restaurant people to sample. This one took place at Nostrana, and was put on by the PDX distributor Casa Bruno. I know, I know. I can hear you already...."THAT is what you do for work? Gee, tasting about a hundred wines in an afternoon while snacking on some great chow sounds SOOO tough!" Well, just let me say that when you go to one of these trade tastings, not all of the wines are that good. Okay, at this tasting, most of the wines were pretty spot on. But don't forget about the hardships: palate fatigue, having to spit into a little bucket without splashing on yourself or others, deciding if the 2000 or 2001 Brunello di Montalcino is the better wine, not to mention how to juggle a plate of apps, a tasting sheet and pen, and a glass of wine. The things I do for my craft........An unending row of grapey goodness!

David Autrey of Westrey Wine Company (on the right, standing next to Doug Tunnell of Brick House Vineyard) trying to feign interest in yet another inane question.